Browsing though some old timetables I have noticed how often Tehran is used as an intermediate stop by airlines flying from Europe to Asia. This of course was the time before the Iranian revolution.

Does anyone have a documentation of airlines, equipment and routing of flights that went through Tehran?

Tehran to me seems to be in a group with Beirut: two airports that airlines flew to a lot on their way between Europe and Asia, then stopped doing so for political reasons, and when the politics was over, those stops weren't needed anymore thanks to technical progress, and other airports in the region (DXB and the like) had established themselves as hubs.

In the late 70s, I flew SAS from Seattle to Bangkok. At the time I worked for a travel agency, as was given the trip as a promo of the new SAS service from Copenhagen to Bangkok. Outbound, I flew Seattle to Copenhagen, and there transferred to the Bangkok flight. That flight stopped in Tashkent, which at that time was very much part of the Soviet Union, and a unique stop-over to say the least.
The routing on the return was Bangkok-Tehran-Copenhagen, thence to Seattle.
The flights were excellent, and equipment used was DC8. I cannot tell you specifically what model of DC8 it was, sorry.

Pan Am's round the world #1 & 2 also routed via Tehran for quite a while.

If you really think about it during the period Iran exemplified growth and modernity in the Middle East. Iran was not part of the Israel-Arab conflict, was a nation experiencing fast growth with a key economy of the region, and was ruled by a regime that very much looked to the West.

Back in the 60-70s' places like Dubai were barely on the map, nothing more then dusty little towns while Tehran was very much a cosmopolitan major population centers.

Tehran was very much a hub for world travel, and was visited by most carriers. Read a few days ago in some thread that Pan Am had nonstops to Istanbul, Frankfurt, Paris, New York and a few more before the Revolution. It was very much a focus city for Pan Am.
Iran Air also did its part, boasting an impressive world network and operating one of the world's longest nonstops at the time using the 747SP.

Quoting FRA2DTW (Reply 5):PAN AM Flight # 1, round-the-world service New York to San Francisco, stopped in Tehran after London and Frankfurt. It was a 707 when I flew it in 1967. Not sure what the next stop after Tehran was?

Pan Am 001 seems to have changed over the years. It originated in San Francisco, going to Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kolkata, Delhi, Beirut, Istanbul, Frankfurt, London, and finally New York (according to wiki).

Now, after THR it was probably BOM or KHI. A veteran Pan Am-er would help.

Quoting LAXintl (Reply 4):Back in the 60-70s' places like Dubai were barely on the map, nothing more then dusty little towns while Tehran was very much a cosmopolitan major population centers.

Dubai wasn't much, at least it was Bahrain that really mattered back then. Despite that, I'm sure DXB was a stopover point for a few airlines.

One of the best flights I ever experienced was on a THAI DC-8-62 in November 1974 from London to Bangkok via Teheran. Of course THR was just for the sake of taking on fuel and stopover there was in the middle of the night. But I recall well being allowed to get off and take a stroll around the aircraft while Iranian workers fueled the DC8.

As did Air France/UTA at one time, with traffic rights between TLV and THR no less. Here's one of their routings from a 1966 timetable, operated by an AF 707: PAR-ROM-TLV-THR-NDH-BKK-PNH-HKG-TYO.

Here are a few more examples of routings through THR from the same era:

SAS DC-8 (1966) CPH-ZRH-ROM-THR-KHI-BKK-MNL-TYO

Japan Air Lines DC-8 (1966) ROM-CAI-THR-KHI-CCU-BKK-HKG-TYO

Sabena 727 (1968) BRU-VIE-ATH-THR-BOM

Alitalia DC-8 (1966) ROM-THR-BOM-BKK-SIN

KLM DC-8 (1962) AMS-ROM-BEY-THR-KHI-RNG-BKK-SGN-MNL

For whatever reason(s) Lufthansa served THR as an endpoint rather than as an enroute stop on their flights to points further east. Their flights to THR typically made stops enroute at ATH and BEY. Surprisingly, Swissair did not serve THR at all during this time period, aside from a pool service operated by SAS via ZRH or GVA (see example above).

You may want to look at timetableimages.com. There, you can find many complete timetable from the past. Specifically, you may want to look at the historic timetables for BOAC, Air France, KLM, SAS, Alitalia, JAL, Qantas, PIA, and other airlines that offered scheduled flights between Europe and the Far East and Australia.

Quoting Phllax (Reply 14):LY even operated flights between TLV-THR before the revolution.

Actually, LY got its 720B models with the particular intention of flying to NBO. On a straight line, it's a pretty short route, by LY had to fly over Iran and down over the Arabian Sea, because at that time, it was still (technically, if not actively) at war with Jordan and Egypt.

The 720B had the range to do this, which - as you can imagine - was a pretty long route.

Once the revolution happened, LY's offices in Tehran were given to Syrianair!

Quoting Kaitak (Reply 19):LY had to fly over Iran and down over the Arabian Sea, because at that time, it was still (technically, if not actively) at war with Jordan and Egypt.

The 720B had the range to do this, which - as you can imagine - was a pretty long route.

How did the EL AL route this flight into Iran's airspace? Since they would presumably have needed to avoid overflying Syria and Iraq as well, it seems the most direct routing would have been flying northward from TLV over the Mediterranean Sea and then turn east over Turkey and proceed eastward before making a southeastward turn toward THR. ...unless they were able to overfly Saudi Arabia by way of a narrow corridor over the Gulf of Aqaba and ultimately approach Iran from the south after crossing over Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf.

Either way, it is indeed a relatively short route turned into a route that would appear to be more than twice the distance of the straight-line route.

Quoting Directorguy (Reply 6):Iran Air also did its part, boasting an impressive world network and operating one of the world's longest nonstops at the time using the 747SP.

IIRC Iran Air came very close to being the third airline to operate the Concorde. I know that had the aircraft on order and I remember seeing photos and models in Iran Air livery. Although most others cancelled their orders and options, for prestige reasons the Shah was serious about putting the aircraft into service. The revolution put an end to the plans.

In 1968 my family returned from the USA via Europe and Israel.
Routing was -
BOAC VC-10 JFK-LHR
KLM DC-8 LHR-AMS-ATH
El AL B720 ATH-TLV (at least I think it was a 720, I seem to recall asking my father what the difference was between a 720 and a 707)
BOAC B707 TLV-THR-BOM-SIN
Qantas B707 SIN-SYD

I went thru Tehran quite a few times OZ to UK and VV in the mid 70's. Always on BA and quite often thru different points before and after. Ah the good old days of visiting 4 Aussie capitals before you leave the country. If I recall we were never allowed out of the aircraft.

25 SurfandSnow
: Tehran would have been much like today's Istanbul - a fascinating stopover city with a rich cultural past and cosmopolitan feel to it. I for one had a